Automotive trucks, often called pick-up trucks, are popular vehicles for use in personal and professional transportation applications. Historically, a typical pick-up truck was designed to accommodate two or three passengers because the majority of the vehicle was dedicated to the transport of large bulky items in the open cargo bed of the truck. However, some new designs, which have increased capacities for passengers, provide additional rows of seats and additional passenger doors. Although their cargo beds are diminished to accommodate their larger passenger cabs, pick-up trucks having spacious passenger cabs with four passenger doors, for example, have become popular.
Small-business owners and contractors fairly typically appreciate the versatility these vehicles offer. For example, a single truck can be used in transporting work related items during working hours, then be used for transporting family members and friends during evening hours, and then be used for transporting recreation related items for weekend trips. Typical work related items include ladders, lumber, piping supplies, and dry-wall sheets. Typical recreation related items include kayaks, canoes, snow skis, water skis, and fishing poles. Such items often do not fit well within the dimensions of a truck.
Fixed racks are available for semi-permanent installation in and above the bed of a truck. Such racks well serve the needs of contractors and craftsmen who have a vehicle dedicated to work applications. However, such racks are considered by some to be unsightly. Some neighborhood associations discourage and regulate the parking of dedicated work-related trucks. Some truck owners prefer racks that fold or collapse so that the appearance of a truck useful for carrying long items such as ladders can be aesthetically restored when the vehicle is parked in residential areas and used for trips to parties and theatres.
While typical folding and collapsing racks may serve to transform the aesthetics of a truck when the racks are stowed into low-profile configurations, the racks typically consume space within the cargo bed of the truck and diminish the capacity of the cargo bed. For example, some racks have collapsible vertical support members that are disposed within the cargo bed of a truck at the corners of the bed. Some racks have horizontal members that compromise access to the cargo bed through the tailgate of the truck.
Therefore, racks and other fixtures are needed to extend the versatilities of trucks by increasing the effective dimensional capacities of their cargo beds. There is a need for a utility rack that is capable of supporting objects above the cargo bed and passenger cab of a truck. There is a need for a utility rack that can conveniently assume a stowed configuration while allowing full use of the bed of a truck. There is a need for a rack that integrates aesthetically with a truck when a stowed configuration is assumed.